OCRL Letters Undercut Call for Dialogue
November 9, 2012
Review readers are surely tiring of weekly exchanges between the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians and me, so I’ll keep this short. College Junior Daniel Starer-Stor claims that I only oppose politically partisan outside funding of the OCRL but not other groups, and that I do so because of my own political views. In other words, I am being inconsistent and therefore dishonest. That’s scurrilous nonsense. I have focused on OCRL because, to my knowledge, they are the only student political organization receiving external funding with explicit partisan strings. If the College Dems were benefiting from the munificence of a donor who would only sponsor left-wing programs, I would oppose that too. Mr. Starer-Stor cites the Downs-Korb Fund as something I should oppose if I were being fair-minded. More nonsense. That fund exists to “support the needs and activities of the LGBTQ community.” Where exactly is the partisanship in that? The OCRL claims to seek honest debate. But in three letters now, they have consistently trafficked in red herrings, and in this latest one they have resorted to accusing me of ideological bias, a most serious charge against a scholar, on the basis of mere and poorly argued imputation. If they want to throw bombs and make scurrilous attacks, fine. But then please spare us the high-minded talk about seeking dialogue and discussion.
